Once Upon a Time: Emma's New Life, Regina's New Love and a Wicked New Villain

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Jan 19, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 19, 2014 at 10:19 PM

There are still seven weeks untilOnce Upon a Timereturns! That's the bad news. The good news is TVGuide.comcaught up with executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis to get the scoop on what's ahead.The last we left our favorite fairy ...

TV Guide

There are still seven weeks until Once Upon a Time returns! That's the bad news. The good news is TVGuide.com caught up with executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis to get the scoop on what's ahead.

The last we left our favorite fairy tale characters, Peter Pan's (Robbie Kay) attempt to reuse Regina's (Lana Parrilla) curse forced everyone back to the Enchanted Forest, effectively destroying Storybrooke. But Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Henry (Jared Gilmore), who were not part of the original curse, could not come along. Instead, their memories were wiped and they were living happily, one year later, in New York City until Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) showed up with news that her parents were in trouble. Find out what (and who) is coming next:

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Why was it Hook that came to Emma and Henry's home in New York City?Adam Horowitz: That is an excellent question. Why and how? Edward Kitsis: What's he doing back? What the hell is going on?Horowitz: We're answering your question with more questions. It's not why Hook, but how Hook and when Hook? What does it mean? That's something that we get to, again, pretty quickly.

The true love's kiss did not work. What lengths will Hook have to go to get Emma to actually believe?Kitsis: Assuming that he does, it will not be easy, as it never is with Emma.

Emma finally joins the club of having two sets of memories. Will that be explored?Kitsis: Yes. Horowitz: The ramifications of this new life of Emma's that we glimpsed at the end of the winter finale and what would happen if she did regain her memories play a huge part in the second half of the season.

How different is this Emma from the one we've known?Kitsis: It was an important thing. Emma, as a character, we love her. She has some new memories, but that didn't ruin her upbringing. She still grew up tough, she still grew up with a wall. It was her against the world and what we'll see is with these new memories it's now her and Henry against the world. She still is the same person, but we're going to really explore what her life is like in Episode 12 called "New York City Serenade."

Christopher Gorham appears in that episode. What's his connection to Emma?Horowitz: Chris is an old friend. We worked with him onPopular a million years ago. We love him and we're so excited that he agreed to come aboard. Kitsis: We called him and said, "You need to do this for us." He was great. Horowitz: We love his character. Kitsis: He's an integral part of two characters' lives.

Emma might not have memories, but she still has magic. Could she stumble upon that?Kitsis: We did see her drive out of town, so there's no magic on that side. She is strong, but if we remember in Season 1, you have to believe in magic to see it.

Do the fairy tale characters sent back to the Enchanted Forest still have their memories of Storybrooke?Kitsis: Yes. They know and that gets explored. Horowitz: As we laid out in the winter finale, Emma was the one who being back there was going to lose those memories and have this new life. The fairy tale characters get left with the pain and knowledge of what happened over the years that the show has been on and what they've been through. None of that is erased.

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Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Charming (Josh Dallas) are in danger. Does this have to do with the Wicked Witch (Rebecca Mader)?Horowitz: That's an excellent guess. The Wicked Witch plays a huge part in the season half of Season 3. Kitsis: She's the big bad. She's a bada-- witch who knows how to get hers. She does have a name. Horowitz: You will learn it pretty quickly. It's not a name you've heard in Wicked Witch lore before. Kitsis: Like in Once fashion, we're doing our own name, our own thing with its own meaning. Horowitz: It's not like the play Wicked or the MGM movie. We're using the books as a jumping-off point to do our Once twist on the classic characters of Oz.

It looks like she's taken up residence in Regina's castle. Horowitz: It does look that way! Kitsis: You know Regina. How do you think Regina will handle someone sitting in her chair looking through her stuff?Horowitz: And eating her porridge?

What can you tell us about the Evil Queen's relationship with Robin Hood (Sean Maguire)?Horowitz: They have a connection that we hinted at and talked about earlier this season. Their stories are going to intersect. Kitsis: We set something up for a reason. We're really going to explore what that meant and what happens when these two people meet. We're going to see what happens when Regina has a second chance at love.

Tell us about some of the new characters coming in. Horowitz: We have a whole bunch of fun people popping up, but it's in service of focusing on the core group of characters and the problem that you saw outlined in the winter finale. Kitsis: We're still going to get to see Tink (Rose McIver) again and Ariel (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) and some of the people we met in the first half of the season as well. Lumiere (Henri Lubatti) is one of our favorite characters. He's really fun and interesting. Horowitz: It's a slightly different take than what you might expect from the movie. Alas, Jerry Orbach is not with us so we couldn't bring him aboard to do it, but we have a take on the character that we think is fun. It's fun to see him interact with Belle (Emilie de Ravin). Kitsis: With Rapunzel (Alexandra Metz), it's princes and damsels in towers.

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There's a possibility for a Snow and Charming baby. So Goodwin's pregnancy is being written in?Kitsis: We definitely hinted that she wanted to have another child. They're certainly going to try. Horowitz: We'll deal with the realities of her pregnancy, but how we do it, we're not ready to share. When you saw Snow saw her secret about that, it was well before we knew Ginny was pregnant. We're telling the story that we've been setting up since the beginning of the season. Kitsis: But you know, every time Snow White gets pregnant, hell gets unleashed. Horowitz: Pregnancies tend to attract some chaos.

What can you tease about the wedding?Kitsis: Yes, there may be a wedding, a birth and a lot of things. Horowitz: We're not ready to send the save the dates out yet, but we can possibly expect some nuptials.

Regina still wants a child. Will that be explored?Horowitz: The hole of Henry in her heart, that we're going to explore and how that affects her and what it makes her do. Kitsis: She definitely wants to have another child, but for right now, she's not thinking about that. She just lost one. For Regina, it's what is going to make her heal again and where is she going to go. We know she filled the hole in her heart by doing the most selfless thing we've ever seen. She did what's best for Henry and gave him up to Emma, her sworn enemy, so they can have a better life. What happens when she returns to the Enchanted Forest? She needs to fall in love first. Right now, she's not open to anything. Horowitz: She's not looking to replace Henry. As far as she is concerned, Henry is irreplaceable.

Once Upon a Time returns Sunday, March 9 at 8/7c on ABC. Hit the comments with your excitement! Stay tuned for more scoop in this week's Mega Buzz!

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